Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to subsea control subsystem management, and in particular to handling overcurrent and undercurrent conditions in subsea control subsystem components.
Description of the Related Art
Certain control systems for subsea blow out preventers (BOPS) are designed to be fault tolerant and fault recoverable. If a fault occurs, both the hardware and software must sense the occurrence, react to mitigate it, recover from it, and if need be, allow the operator to isolate the faulty component. Some known solenoid driver board designs do not offer a way to identify the functionality of the electrical circuit providing power to a solenoid operated valve (commonly referred to as a solenoid valve) prior to applying power. Because of the lack of this feature, in some systems the only way to determine the solenoid valve's functionality is to apply power activating the solenoid valve.
There may be several outcomes when such power is applied, including the system may operate properly, activating the hydraulic function; the system may not operate properly, not activating the hydraulic function due to an overcurrent condition, or short circuit; or the system may not operate properly, not activating the function due to an undercurrent condition, or open circuit.